The visit was characterised by the wow-factor. Ooohhhh what huge tanks you have. Aahhhhhh what huge and efficient machines you have. Yiiiikes how many bottle per year was that?

In fact Moet’s production is twice as big, though Feuillatte is the biggest seller in France, showing just how much Moet is marketed for export.

I’m not sure how much I really got from the trip. It was interesting that they don’t use pectolytic enzymes to speed settling (“no time to add them” the man said, or somesuch as we whizzed around with our necks craning up at the huge tanks or down over the balcony to watch robots wrangling palates full of bottles into shape).

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Then there was the tasting. I’ll be frank it left me a little cold. Perhaps the wines were a little sweeter than my normal taste? Some others in the group left the shop with Champagne in fancy packaging, but I did not.